Linux in Government: Linux Desktop Reviews, Part 5 - Linspire

Buckminister Fuller, who's credited with the theory of Comprehensive
Anticipatory Design Science, often quoted Victor Hugo, the 19th century
author. Bucky would say, "Nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time
has come." Those familiar with the adoption of shifting technological
paradigms probably have encountered this quote and these individuals in
their studies.

Many analysts say Linux and open-source software follow accepted
patterns of adoption that are familiar to students of marketing. Some consider
the adoption curve as law. In Figure 1, you can view Everett Rogers'
adoption curve or diffusion model. The model divides the population into five
segments, with each segment offering opinion leadership for the following
one. For example, early adopters influence people in the early majority
and so on. Companies bet the bank on Roger's model. In Figure 1, you can
see the percentages of the population that fit into each segment of the
model. We discuss this model in more depth toward the end of this article.

Figure 1. Everett Roger's Adoption Curve

Integrating technology and introducing technological innovation presents
a complex set of challenges. Getting a new idea adopted, even when it has
obvious advantages, is difficult. Society's acceptance and implementation
of any technology seems to involve religious wars where the aspirations
of innovators become characterized as evil. Resistors often question
profit motives, technical competence and the low costs associated with
new technologies. One can see a certain irony as the mantle of power
changes hands.

Not very long ago, the same kind of noise occurred when personal
computers began to proliferate at the expense of mainframes and mini
computers. People characterized Microsoft and Apple Computers as the
low-cost innovators who would destroy infrastructures and jobs. Personal
computers could never replace mainframes and the billions of lines of
code written in COBOL. Personal computers held a promise that could
never reach fulfillment and endangered enterprise.

People said similar things about the compass, railroads, steam-powered
ships, canals, the printing press and so forth. Even Ross Perot met
stiff resistance when he began computerizing Wall Street. People said,
"How can we maintain quality if we can't see every transaction and
examine it thoroughly?"

Enter Linspire

Even within the Linux and Open Source community, a significant number
of people believed Michael Robertson began
Linspire to cash in on the
desktop Linux boom that some thought would occur at any time. Linspire
took existing open-source applications and renamed them. Linspire created
a Click-N-Run warehouse and shopping mall, which many people viewed as
a renaming of an apt-get repository. The look and feel didn't conform
to accepted Linux distributions.

Looking back, consider the entry of Linspire into the market as part
of the complex set of challenges Linux faced as a new technology in an
adoption or diffusion curve. I welcomed the entry and watched carefully
until a time came when I clearly could differentiate the product. Linspire
does not fit the enterprise classification of a Linux desktop. Regardless,
Linspire pushes Linux adoption toward critical mass as it reaches users
who ordinarily would not use the traditional Linux-UNIX model.

In addition, Linspire has reached the majority of the PC manufacturing
market. While the major analysts sit at the round table of information
technology and argue about Dell or HP picking up one or two
percentage points in the PC market, Linspire has gone after the big
market.

For those who do not know, white box PC manufacturers such as Microtel,
PowerSpec, TigerDirect, Wintergreen, GQ and hundreds of smaller localized
firms make up 50% of the PC market. The white box market is the
big market, and Linspire has made significant headway into that market.

The only problem associated with Linux growing in the white-box market
deals with the operating system reaching a point of critical mass. To
reach critical mass, the buying public must see Linux, OpenOffice.org,
Firefox and other applications associated with mainstream retail establishments. That
gives any product market acceptance.

So last week, Linspire announced its availability at more than 1,000 major
national retail stores, including Best Buy, CompUSA, Fry's Electronics,
Micro Center and J & R Computer World. For more and more people starting
to worry about the safety of their computers running Microsoft Windows, Linspire's
newest product provides a secure, reliable and user-friendly desktop
Linux experience at a low cost.

Can Linspire Fit into the Enterprise?

As of this writing, Linspire does not have a government licensing
program, but the company says it soon will announce the details of its
upcoming government program. Linspire has not yet approached the market for professional
services or enterprise management. So, if a government unit wants to
use Linspire, that unit will need a Linux administrator.

Enterprises often use desktop distributions such as Linspire as their
standard user solution. Many readers might find the continued widespread use
of Windows 98 in industry as surprising. Stretching legacy
operating systems further, the Allied Irish Bank's (AIB) migration from
Windows to Linux involved the use of Windows 3.11.

Behind a firewall, many organizations find machine-level security
sufficient. Linspire should interest government units due to the
distribution's lost cost and low-resource requirements. For example,
MicroCenter offers Linspire CNR - OEM Edition on systems costing as
little as $229. Wal-Mart sells systems with Linspire for approximately
$325, as does Staples. This allows government procurement to obtain their
volume discounts and look to major vendors for purchases.

Linspire also fits nicely into a Microsoft infrastructure. The
desktop runs a full version of Linux and provides file sharing
capabilities. Figure 2 shows Linspire's network browsing capabilities:

Figure 2. Linspire's Network Share Manager

Similar to other Linux desktops, Linspire uses Samba 3 to add the
SMB/CIFS protocol. Linux system administrators or contractors can
configure Linspire to work in a peer-to-peer, Primary Domain or Active
Directory environment.

Linspire also adds capabilities to create and mail PDF files and fax
directly from its print management tools. Figure 4 provides a screenshot
of Linspire's advanced faxing tools within the Configure Printers window.

Figure 4. Linspire's Advanced Faxing Tool

Linspire's Click-N-Run (CNR) might concern enterprises. In that case, your
Linux system administrator should disable it for users. Most organizations
prefer to control the applications that workers access. For example,
you may not want users utilizing bandwidth to listen to or share MP3
files. In that case, disabling one of Linspire's consumer features
makes sense. The administrator can keep the capability by allowing only
root access to CNR. Figure 5 provides a look at the CNR Window. In this
example, I downloaded gftp from the repository in order to use secure
shell transfers between computers on a network.

Figure 5. Linspire's Click-N-Run Facility

Linspire Aides in Linux Adoption

Many analysts believe strongly that Linux and open-source adoption will
saturate the technology landscape. This observer feels that Linux has
started inching toward critical mass. So, let's review the population
segments and see where we stand in the model.

First adopters of any new technology are Innovators. Rogers refers to
these as the people pulling toward change. Linus Torvalds obviously
represents the prime innovator in the Linux movement. Many people feel
that Richard Stallman, the originator of the Free Software Foundation and
the GPL license, enabled Linus to create Linux. In fact, many people refer
to the operating system as GNU/Linux. Obviously, the first programmers
and users of Linux innovated the technology.

Innovators share their accomplishments and draw Early Adopters into
a technology. Early adopters provide a strong element in the diffusion
process. This segment usually includes accomplished people willing to try
new ideas, and they bring a certain perception of integrity to the process.

Marc Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and a noted billionaire
fits this segment. One might note that he made his billions by starting
Broadcast.com, which he and his partner sold to Yahoo. Marc utilized
Linux to create Broadcast.com. Mr. Cuban's company operated in Dallas,
and during its operations a shortage of Linux developers and
system administrators was noted in the area.

Most observers would say that Michael Robertson fits the mold of
both innovator and early adopter. His early critics who thought
Michael wanted to "cash in on the Linux desktop boom" were short
sighted. Mr. Robertson had already cashed in on MP3.com. His contribution
to Linux follows more of his characteristic of an innovator and early
adopter.

As many people consider Marc Cuban a maverick in his own right, they
consider his purchase of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team a natural
expression. So too, Linspire represents a natural expression of its owner.

Linspire captures the excitement of Linux. Robertson brings a strong
element of innovation to open-source technology, and because of his
success, he gives credibility to people in the Early Majority of the population.

The Early Majority are careful folks who are willing to accept change more
quickly than the average person. They look around places like Best Buy,
CompUSA, Fry's Electronics, Micro Center and J & R Computer World and
if a product exists at one of those places, they become buyers. It
usually takes a person like Michael Robertson to work tirelessly and
persistently to get those mainstream businesses to carry the brand.

So, if you were wondering, Linspire definitely has aided overall Linux
adoption. That means more OEMs are going to be willing to provide hardware,
software and technologies for Linux users.

Some Final Thoughts

Although this series of articles evaluates the relative merits of enterprise
desktops, I wanted to establish a context in this particular piece by
drawing the reader's attention to the adoption process. Why? This week,
we learned that Microsoft plans to kill another company that once considered
Redmond a friend. See Paula Rooney's article "BlackBerry
Killer?" for details. When one of my companies developed a
replacement (see
"Winnebago
Running Linux Mail on Mainframe", for Microsoft Exchange that ran on the IBM S/390 and Linux, Blackberry
would not consider adding its enterprise server to the bundle. Now,
Blackberry and its owner, Research In Motion, might consider opening
a corporate mausoleum for itself, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, Netscape,
Real Networks, Digital Research, Novell, Lantastic and others who helped
Windows achieve a monopoly status.

Linux provides an ethical element to information technology that
often gets blurred by the messages of Microsoft and its hoard. Linux
provides a relative advantage and potential adopters need to see that
advantage. Linux is a compatible innovation that fits in with an adopter's
current practices and values.

Linspire helps further the relative advantage of Linux. Linspire provides
an ease of use that people see as so necessary for adoption. Linspire
is willing to license technologies to make it easy for people to use
Linux. That might not fit the totally free mentality of open source,
but it furthers its adoption.

Linux provides for optimized techniques of computing instead of simply
comparative techniques. That allows innovators and early adopters to
flourish. Ask yourself if you can afford to reject an Open Future by
rejecting Linux and open-source software. Maybe you can. If so, you
might just have to throw your Blackberry in the trash along the way.

Tom Adelstein works as an Analyst with Hiser+Adelstein,
headquartered in New York City. He's the co-author of the book
Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop and author of an upcoming book on Linux system administration,
to be published by O'Reilly and Associates. Tom has been consulting and
writing articles and books about Linux since early 1999.

Do you have a problem with variety? Are you like Bill Gates who hates the idea of options? All the the Linux OS's are great. Linspire has the corner on not only reliability, but ease of use. What other Linux does this? Maybe you should FULLY check it out before you spout off your opinion. I have used it for more than a year, and it is one of the best I have ever used. Go ahead. Check it out, and then voice your opinion about this OS. By the way: should there be only one brand of car? One brand of soap? One brand of batteries? Clothes? Jewelry? Shoes? Every together now: we will all get together and make one brand of everything so that there is no competition! Get real!

Linspire is indeed really easy to use. However, it is also extremely easy to kill. I could very easily go into /boot and delete the kernel. Linspire would be completely killed in all of 5 seconds. Why can I do this? Because Linspire, by default, runs everything as root. I could also delete /usr/lib/libstdc++.so.* and by doing so, kill almost every program in Linspire. Linspire must FORCE users to create a normal user account, instead of ask them if they want to. As a Gentoo Linux user, I must say that I am very disappointed in Linspire.

By the way, where is Gentoo? I do not see it in any report on this page, or in this publication? What Gentoo doing to help the Linux community expand and reach new heights? Obviously NOTHING! Be careful how you speak of other Linux systems. They all have a need to fill, even Gentoo.

I am so sorry for you. Who in their right mind, I mean professionally, would want to kill any OS, including Linspire? You use Gentoo, and of course I admire all Linux users--except that Gentoo is probably the most primitive of Linux OS. Linspire is made for those who have no experience with Linux, but it is one of the nicest on the market today. I use Linspire, and love it more than any other. The only other I would even consider using would be either Fedora or Mandriva--both much more attractive than Gentoo. But then again, I am not out to destroy any distro. Only a myopic mugwump would even consider this. I am deeply disturbed at your negative attitude toward any Linux OS. I would think you would be happy that there is a version made for anyone. Please try to be happy for those who choose the difference. I am offended, and you my friend give the Linux community a bad name. You should be a Microsoft user. That is how they think.

As it is true that Linspire has yet not made many strides in the business world--and they do admit this, it is an fantastic system. I had been looking for a Linux system for years after having to struggle with Microsoft. After my '98 crashed and refused to reload, I got desparate and used an older version of Lindows4.5. After using and playing around with some basic assistance, I had it up and running. It is one of the easiest versions to use, dubbed the slogan: The world's easiest desktop Linux! It is great for newcomers. For those who want to make the right choice and ditch Micro Shaft, Linspire is the way to go. It combines the ease of windows, with the reliability of Linux. They have begun to enter into the school system. I am running a small business, and I am currently using Linspire 5.0 and I love it! I have gone from Linux ignorant to Linux learning thanks to Linspire! I would not change for the world!

You are absolutely right! Linspire Rocks! I was in the exact same predicament. My system crashed, and I had a copy of Lindows 4.5 that was given to me by my brother. I was also desparate. I refused to use Microshaft any more, so I loaded it on. When I picked an internet service to use, I luckily found someone who new a lot about Red Hat and she helped me make a connection. From then on, I have had nothing but success. I have it on three systems now. I am going to open a business, and will use Linspire as my system. I mean, what else is there?

If I understand what you are meaning I agree. The companies you listed are example of how industry leaders can become industry laggards in just a few years. Microsoft, as do many others, will pounce on a market segment as soon as the leader mis-steps. Microsoft, IMHO, is close to making the same mistake by ignoring the potention of Linux specifically and open source in general.

I think we agree. Perhaps Intuit and Adobe might consider if they're on the Redmond radar screen. Oracle saw it coming and made Linux the platform of choice. Perhaps the Adobe-Macromedia team should start reconsidering their avoidance of Linux and what it might cost in the long run. That might also go for some hardware manufacturers like Biostar, Shuttle, Abit, ESC and their OEMs.

I have used Linux for the last 4 years first mandrake then suse the turbolinux, kanotix64, sun java desktop and then linspire 4.5 and now linspire 5.0.
There always seems to be comparisons made between linspire and windows like clone programs which may be true or is windows a clone to linux apps.
Although linspire asks for money in no way could you spend thousands like windows xp with its billion dollar app prices. NVU may be a dreamweaver like program but its price is zero to cnr warehouse member compared to how much for dreamweaver?
Open office is a better choice than Microsoft office and the cost of open office is zero to cnr warehouse member.
Gimp is an excellent program and its cost is zero to cnr warehouse member.
Linspire cnr warehouse is 50.00 a year but your savings in software fees is in the thousands of dollars compared to windows application costs.
There is no downtime with linspire, it does not crash, it does not get infected, no spyware, has continuous updates and is really cheap compared to windows and a set of windows apps.
Suse has a yearly fee too like 9.0 to 9.1 to 9.2 to 9.3 awaiting 9.4 at 90.00 bucks a version and cross over office is not free nor is win4lin.
When you consider Linspire 5.0 and other operating systems along with cost of applications, linspire is a excellent and easy value for anyone wishing to use Linux and avoid the nightmares of windows endless problems with software security and hardware nightmares and compatibility circus.
When you actually use the products I think your views certainly change. Linspire 5.0 is really cost effective compared to other os's and easy and cheap for anyone to use. Linspire has the only support team, compared to all the other os's, that ever gets back to me when I have a question Not suse or turbolinux or mandrake or sun java desktop or microsoft have ever answered a single question for me or returned a single email. From a user stand point Linspire 5.0 is EASY and unlike all of the other os's I mentioned linspire has actual support that emails, phones, and addresses all issues for all its users not just the insiders or corporate giants.
The real question here is why are you not using linspire 5.0 and why can't all the other os companies provide the same decent support and services for so little money.
By the way none of the free operating systems have any help or support at all Linspire is a small price to pay for so much help and care and near endless applications.
I suspect linspire will continue to grow because of the excellent customer service since all the other os giants have no customer service at all. With Linspire 5.0 I don't pay extra for for all the support I may desire and look at all those applications that are included and tested and work.
Bill Gates has never emailed me but Mike Robertson has and often. None of the other software companies give a spit about the end user opinions but Linspire asks our opinion often.
Linspire indeed asks you for little money but then, they actually have a working product that loads in 8 mins. and works. With thousands of cnr apps. and a few xtra fee apps like the 10.00 dvd player(very nice too) Linspire is a bargain especially since the programs are tested and working and so easy to install.
Linspire 5.0 keeps track of my application download choices so when I install on another computer I just update my product list very easy and neat.
Since I owned linspire 4.0 my 4.5 upgrade free, my 5.0 upgrade free, try to get microsoft to give you free upgrades from 98 to me to xp won't happen.
So you buy your Linspire 5.0 OS and join the clik and run warehouse and pay for any special apps you want its still really cheap compared to any of the other os's its being compared to. Yes, linspire has fees but it also has value, service, and service, and service. When Linspire asks you for money and you give them the money they actually deliver and service the end users so you get your moneys worth.
No I don't work for linspire or get paid by linspire I just use Linspire 5.0 and it does not abuse the end users like other software giants do.

I'm his co-author for the upcoming Linux Administration book, and one of the associates of Hiser+Adelstein. Tom's been under contract for the book since last October, but it's a little delayed due to the untimely death of his father.

He invited me to co-author the book as a friend, but before I agreed, I did my due diligence on Tom.

His first book was published in 1985 and sells for $197 used.
You can find it at:

Tom wrote the first comprehensive accounting package for
micro-processors which he sold in the early 1980's. They were relicensed to well known companies which are still marketing them. He wrote them on the TI 990 model 1.

Tom is also a CPA and was the managing partner of one of the largest
firms in the US. He sold a start up in 1987 and was the CEO of a
Fortune 500 subsidiary.

As far as being an analyst - he has a track record that goes back to the mid 1980's. I have seen news paper articles naming him an "up and comer" to watch. He has a stack of letters of recommendations from many major firms including Gateway and Ericsson, and I have examined them.

He broke the code on Microsoft Exchange and developed the products sold today as InsightServer and InsightConnector. He was the product manager, and project manager. The Internet is filled with references to that.

Tom also sold the first major Linux application and reference account for IBM.

Hiser+Adelstein was founded in 2003 but it's not a partnership. It's an association. You can reach Tom or Sam at separate telephone numbers in the 212-372 exchange. Tom's lives with his wife in Dallas and commutes.

According to my understanding, Sun released updates - iso's to JDS 2003 but did not have an application for people to write the iso's to CD RPMs. So, Tom built the xcdroast rpms to help other JDS users upgrade their system.

Tom has also run some large NT shops and worked in government as an Oracle Government Financial specialist. He then turned to Netware and IBM Lan Server. Again I have personally verified this.

You can hide behind you anonymity and question his integrity all you want, but before I got into IT, I was a Police Detective and in law enforcement for 15 years. I know how to check people out, and Tom checks very well.

My involvement with personal computers goes back to the early 1970's. I have built them, programmed them, and worked for both hardware and software manufacturers. I am a certified Network Administrator, certified Linux Instructor, certified Electronic Tech. and have taught Linux for many major corporations, including Dell, AMD, IBM, I've also taught for the Dallas County Community College, and ITT Technical Institute, and many more.

If you want more references on Tom or myself I've only touched the surface, and by the way where are your references?

This author is still trying to find a new home after his fiasco with Sun.

He does not work as an Analyst with Hiser+Adelstein, headquartered in New York City. He is co-owner of the Hiser+Adelstein startup site who are exagerating who they are. One partner lives in Texas the other in New York. That is how the company is New York based.

This guy can't even build an RPM but has always taken credit for building them on the JDSHelp.org web site. How could he possibly write about anything related to Linux system administration. This author is just a mouth piece that likes to see his name on pages.

I'm the co-author for the upcoming Linux Administration book, and one of the associates of Hiser+Adelstein.

He invited me to co-author the book as a friend, but before I agreed, I did my due diligence on Tom.

You can hide behind you anonymity and question his integrity all you want, but before I got into IT, I was a Police Detective and in law enforcement for 15 years. I know how to check people out, and Tom checks very well.

His first book was published in 1985 and sells for $197 used.
You can find it at Amazon under his full name S. Thomas Adelstein

He also co-authored two McMillian Linux Administration Unleased books:

Amazon mispelled his name, search on Tom Addelstein

Here's other information I found out about Tom:

He wrote the first comprehensive accounting package for
micro-processors which he sold in the early 1980's. They were relicensed to well known companies which are still marketing them. He wrote them on the TI 990 model 1.

Tom is also a CPA and was the managing partner of one of the largest
firms in the US. He started up a NASD/NYSE frim in 1983 and sold it in 1987 and then was the CEO of a Fortune 500 subsidiary.

As far as being an analyst - he has a track record that goes back to the mid 1980's. I have seen news paper articles naming him an "up and comer" to watch. He has a stack of letters of recommendations from many major firms including Gateway and Ericsson, and I have examined them.

He broke the code on Microsoft Exchange and developed the products sold today as InsightServer and InsightConnector. He was the product manager, and project manager. The Internet is filled with references to that.

Tom also sold the first major Linux application and reference account for IBM.

Hiser+Adelstein was founded in 2003 but it's not a partnership. It's an association. You can reach Tom or Sam at separate telephone numbers in the 212-372 exchange. Tom's lives with his wife in Dallas and commutes.

Tom has built rpms for the JDS web site. In fact if you go to
the xcdroast site for example and you can see an attribution to him for building the JDS rpms.

JDShelp went up in July and Tom organized it, put up the web site and pulled people together to help.

Tom has also run some large NT shops and worked in government as an Oracle Government Financial specialist. He then turned to Netware and IBM Lan Server. Again I have personally verified this.

My involvement with personal computers goes back to the early 1970's. I have built them, programmed them, and worked for both hardware and software manufacturers. I am a certified Network Administrator, certified Linux Instructor, certified Electronic Tech. and have taught Linux for many major corporations, including Dell, AMD, IBM, I've also taught for the Dallas County Community College, and ITT Technical Institute, and many more.

If you want more references on Tom or myself I've only touched the surface, and by the way where are your references?

Yes Linspire leverages existing Linux software as does every other Linux software company. That's what makes them Linux! But actually Linspire does quite a bit of innovation as well. If you check out their software you'll see they're probably the most innovative Linux company. Besides sponsoring some great software programs like Lsongs, nVu and Lphoto, they load their software with quite a few very unique pieces.

CNR is much more then just apt-get. You can install a list of programs, you can update one or all the programs on your computer, you can update your entire OS, you can buy commercial titles, you can setup a new computer and with a single mouse click put all the software you like on the new computer. There's no other computer system in the world that can do this. http://linspire.com/cnr

This article goes on and on about innovation, even in the tagline, "Furthering the process of introducing and innovating Linux", yet there's nothing about any innovations that Linspire has added to the mix.
Just _what_ innovations are included with Linspire? Is rebranding others' work innovation? If that's the case, then Microsoft did that long before Linspire. Is including closed source software with a Linux distro an innovation? If so, Linspire isn't the first to do that either.
Even calling Robertson/Linspire "early adopters" is a sham. The "early adopters" in Linux were there back in the early and mid 1990's. This would include people like Patrick Volkerding of the Slackware project and Ian Murdoch of the Debian project. Those are the "early adopters" and innovators who then released their work back to the communities on which their projects were founded.

calling Robertson an "innovator" or "early adopter" for nothing more than standing on the shoulders of giants is a crock.

Your comment, while meant to insult and show your mean spirited nature, demonstrates the power of the diffusion model. From a market saturation level, your noise indicates progress in the acceptance of new technology. In that context, what you say has no value other than it adds to the noise level. The noise level attracts attention. The behavior you exhibit tells us innovators are still engaged. Your behavior fits the norm: anti-status quo, bitter, easily drawn to criticism.

Of the criticisms of Roger's diffusion model, one deals with the drop out rate of innovators. Essentilly, you provide evidence that the model works. As you drop out, the technology becomes more acceptible to larger segments of the market. Your dislike of the "kinds" of people now drawn to the technology will lead to some form of drop out.

Linux provides an excellent laboratory for research. It also provides an excellent system for use in computational sciences. Rarely in a researcher's life does something as fascinating as the Linux phenomenon occur.

The author, BTW, in approximately 1500 words managed to demonstrate a mastery of the subject matter. Not bad, not bad at all.

Good story. Tom Adelstein is showing some forward thinking himself in pointing out Michael Robertson's (and Mark Cuban's) forward thinking. And in pointing out this forward thinking of Robertson and Cuban, it shows that Tom attaches some value to it.

Let me point out another computing topic which follows along the lines of forward thinking in technology sector, and the dangers of Microsoft specifically and monopolies or lock-in in general.

Richard Stallman has decided to kick up a notch his efforts on a Free BIOS. The info on this effort is located here. What it basically boils down to is that AMD is cooperating somewhat on a Free BIOS, and Intel is stonewalling and refusing to cooperate. What are the dangers? With a secret BIOS, digital restrictions management flourishes, Microsoft succeeds in their "trusted" treacherous computing, the MPAA/RIAA succeeds in their efforts to transform computers into digital entertainment devices with "pay to play" buttons, and end users spend another decade or more fighting Microsoft, the MPAA/RIAA/FCC for freedom to do what they want with their own hardware, their own legally purchased music and videos, their own data (goodbye MythTV).

AMD, with the best bang for the buck processors, is cooperating on the Free BIOS efforts, Intel with more expensive, slower and less innovative technology is stonewalling, and Richard Stallman has issued a request for help from end users. Buy AMD who is helping with the Free BIOS efforts, and don't buy Intel. And let them and him know about it.

The most uncooperative company is Intel, which has started a sham "open source" BIOS project. The software consists of all the unimportant parts of of a BIOS, without the hard parts. It won't run, and doesn't bring us any closer to a BIOS that does run. It is just a distraction. By contrast, AMD cooperates pretty well.

You can help our campaign by buying AMD CPU chips and not buying Intel, and by publishing statements about what you're doing. Likewise, buy motherboards that support free BIOS.

Is Richard Stallman's efforts on a Free BIOS forward thinking? Is joining Richard Stallman in his efforts for a Free BIOS forward thinking? How about some help, Tom, a story or two, on Richard's Free BIOS efforts? How about asking some other tech writers/reporters to do a little forward thinking themselves and to join the effort? You have your little soapbox. Is this not a worthy use of it?

What this doesn't point out in terms of total cost of deployment is that Linspire (and virtually every other Linux distro) has a full office suite, as well as a very large amount of productivity software that is built in--with Win XP you have, well, Win Xp and little else.

It's nice to see someone who understands the adoption cycle of new technology and how Linspire is trying to "cross the chasm" to the mass market by bringing ease-of-use, hardware compatibility and widespread distribution to desktop Linux.

I have to disagree that asking for some money will necessarily turn off people. I'd rather pay a little bit and know that there is a company behind the product I'm getting.

I'm a non-technical person and Linspire is the only Linux that I've even considered using. I bought a Koobox online, it arrived, it started up, I got some of the CNR stuff, and it all worked (it's my understanding that Linspire has actually tested all the programs available in CNR). I can't configure, find missing parts, or whatever the heck it is people have to do with all these off-the-wall 'distros'. The first time I saw that term, I thought, 'what the heck are 'distros'?

Some mentioned earlier that they get good support from Linspire. The best part for me is that I haven't needed to call them.

Now I just want to see more commercial-quality software, and I'm willing to pay a reasonable price for it.

I believe Linux for the desktop is going to go "critical mass" very soon. Linspire Five-0 is definitely going to help a lot of consumers look at switching from Windows XP or Mac OS X to a much cheaper, and more secure alternative - LINUX. I have both Windows XP and Mac OS X in my household, and honestly, I love using Linspire Five-0. It is refreshing to say the least.

This weekend I ran LinspireLive! on my DFI-based Windows XP Pro computer (Athlon 64). I was completely surprised to discover that it ran quite nicely from the CD itself, thus allowing me to test out the OS for a few hours. Impressive!

Today, I took the plunge and removed Windows XP Home Edition from my HP zv5340us notebook. I installed Linspire Five-0 on it, after purchasing it the day before with the CNR Warehouse download service, and then proceeded to boot into Linspire after about 15 minutes. WOW! This Linux distribution from Linspire, Inc. is absolutely amazing! From the speed of the OS to the whole look-and-feel, I was just floored at how much Linux has "grown up." A few years ago, I tried Red Hat Linux and was not impressed. Linspire, on the other hand, has managed to impress me so much that I am going to start programming again. :)

Linspire Five-0 is an awesome Linux distribution, so go out and buy it today. I even tried the CNR Warehouse - beautiful! :)

MEPIS is one of my absolute favorite DESKTOP systems, (Libranet is my #1 favorite system, period), but I rate Linspire highly, and I think that Linspire may be one of the systems that tips the Linux scale toward critical mass, which is one of Tom A's main points in the article. I happen to agree with him.

While I have to agree it's nice to see some organizations actually looking at the ease of moving from Winderz to Linux. And yes Lindows may be the answer, however, I think Lindows would see more adoption if they lower their price. I think the amount of money they want why switch from Winderz-something everyone knows to Lindows-a new ballgame.

But then I think SuSe may be the answer. Ease of use updating and low cost. This distro leans to the desktop, workstation and power user.

I see a trap in the Linux adoption model. An establishment of Linux users exists. They are resistors. The new innovators and early adopters get hammered by the existing and established Linux users.

So, for Linux to reach a broader level of diffusion, firms like Red Hat have to find another audience.

The Linux establishment is fully diffused. They are against change. The broader population who would like to have new technology wind up confused by the forward thrust of people like Michael and the push back by people like Ian.

It creates a dilemma and is one reason I said "introducing technological innovation presents a complex set of challenges". This is an example.

Let's look at the Open Source innovation...IT'S FREE. Free to use, Free to choose. In the end what does it matter what version you use as long as you can use it for free like it was ment to be? I'm not going to tell you what version to use, I use Fedora 3, and I'm not going to tell you not to buy that version if you want to. Me personally, I didn't pay for my copy of Linux, I didn't have to and I didn't break any laws to get it. I had to pay for the hardware that it runs on and isn't that enough? I thought it was and I don't like to spend another $100+ to get an OS that is going to be full of bugs so that I have to turn around and buy virus protection (or at the least spend the time to dl AVG :) ). I chose to dl Fedora Core 3 and use it and only that OS. I'm not saying that this is the perfect OS, but it beats the "Washington" choice.

No, innovation comes in many forms and if this innovation helps to make the computer/internet world better then so be it and more power to those of you who want to spend YOUR money to buy YOUR OS.

Parting note: FLAVER IS THE SPICE OF LIFE, LINUX HAS MANY FLAVERS...YOU DO THE MATH!!

Isn't it interesting that Tom A is one of the only responder's willing to associate his name with his post?

For the record, I am a Suse user.

I have used a number of others in the past, but this is the one that best fills my individual needs at the current time. Are there other good distros? Absolutely! That is the beauty of the Linux paradigm: choice. Different needs = different distros. The MS paradigm is exactly the opposite, for good reason. It is exceedingly difficult (and expensive) to manage that many different code bases/streams.

The other interesting vein running through the chain of posts: costs. I am a Linux user willing to pay for software. I will pay for good software as it propigates the adoption of the OS that I love.

In the enterprise space, the beauty of choice is clear also: Some like Linspire on the desktop, others like Suse/NLD, and yet others RH enterprise workstation/Fedora core. This keeps monopolies at bay, while still increasing adoption.

It is not effective to attack on distro or another, nor is it useful to attack other users (especially anonymously) who believe the same way that you do! We all may speak a different dialect, but the language is the same.